Some form, fill, and seal packaging machines sequentially fold a continuous sheet of packaging material about articles to be packaged, seal the packaging material about the articles, and cut the packaging material into individually sealed packages. More specifically, the sheet of packaging material is initially passed through a folding mechanism that continuously folds the packaging material over on itself to form an enclosure for spaced apart articles. The overlapping portions of the packaging material are then sealed along a continuous longitudinal seal via seal jaw assemblies. The folded sheet of packaging material is fed to a sealing and cutting assembly that seals leading and trailing edges of the package to be formed about the enclosed article and cuts the packaging material into multiple individually sealed packages. Examples of packages produced by this form, fill, and seal process are typically used for potato chips, snack bars, candy, cookies, cereals, household products, medical products, medicine, and/or other food or non-food products. The packages may range in size from small (e.g., one to two items weighing several ounces) to large (e.g., as many as a dozen items weighing ten to sixteen ounces).
Some of these packages may be hung on racks via holes provided in the packages. Such holes (or apertures) may be provided at an upper end of the package, referred to as a “header.” The holes permit hanging or suspending of one or more packages upon an elongate spindle, or any one of multiple spindles, projecting from a vertically positioned peg board type display arrangement frequently seen in retail stores of various types. For example, snack food (e.g., potato chips, popcorn, peanuts, candies, etc.) packages may be hung on racks, via the holes, so that they may be displayed to customers. Typically, one or more holes may be provided in such packages by a mechanical or hot punch assembly of the form, fill, and seal packaging machine. It is usually desirable to create the holes in the package simultaneously with the sealing operation from the stand point of cost and efficiency. In order to accomplish this, a punch assembly is mounted in a seal jaw assembly so that it will contact the package at the same time as the seal jaw assemblies come together.
Thus, the creation of the holes in the package (e.g., via the hot punch assembly) is most efficiently accomplished at a particular temperature (e.g., between 650° Farenheit (F.) and 750° F.) which is usually higher than a temperature (e.g., between 250° F. and 300° F.) necessary to achieve sealing of the package (e.g., via the seal jaw assemblies). However, the hot punch assembly may transfer heat to the seal jaw assemblies resulting in zones or regions of serrations which are formed at too high a temperature.